ObjectiveTo investigate the frequency of pathological gambling among alcohol and other substance abusers who sought specialized treatment. Methods Seventy-four outpatients from three different substance abuse treatment services were interviewed. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) scale was used for the diagnosis of pathological gambling. The diagnosis of alcohol and other substances abuse was established according to the DSM-IV criteria and the Short Alcohol Dependence Data (SADD) scale. The Portuguese version of the Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ) scale was used to detect psychiatric symptoms and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) for depressive symptoms. Average scores obtained from the application of these scales were compared using the Student t-test. Results All subjects met the criteria for drug abuse, 61.6% met the alcohol dependence criteria, 60.3% for cocaine/crack, and 34.2% for cannabis. According to the SOGS scale, the majority of drug addicts (70.3%) were classified as social gamblers, 10.8% as problem gamblers and 18.9% as pathological gamblers. Psychiatric and depression symptoms were found in the sample. Pathological gambling patients showed more depression symptoms than non-pathological gambling patients. Conclusions A high frequency of pathological gambling was found among the drug addicts interviewed. It is emphasized the importance of investigating pathological gambling among patients under treatment of drug abuse and to include strategies for the treatment of this disorder.

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability, validity and classification accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) in a sample of the Brazilian population. Participants in this study were drawn from three sources: 71 men and women from the general population interviewed at a metropolitan train station; 116 men and women encountered at a bingo venue; and 54 men and women undergoing treatment for gambling. The SOGS and a DSM-IV-based instrument were applied by trained researchers. The internal consistency of the SOGS was 0.75 according to the Cronbach's alpha model, and construct validity was good. A significant difference among groups was demonstrated by ANOVA (F₂.₂₃₈ = 221.3, P < 0.001). The SOGS items and DSM-IV symptoms were highly correlated (r = 0.854, P < 0.01). The SOGS also presented satisfactory psychometric properties: sensitivity (100), specificity (74.7), positive predictive rate (60.7), negative predictive rate (100) and misclassification rate (0.18). However, a cut-off score of eight improved classification accuracy and reduced the rate of false positives: sensitivity (95.4), specificity (89.8), positive predictive rate (78.5), negative predictive rate (98) and misclassification rate (0.09). Thus, the SOGS was found to be reliable and valid in the Brazilian population.

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